Robot Battle: Kuratas, Megabot to Square Off in Giant Fistfight

The world's first high-profile matchup between giant fighting robots — Kuratas vs. Megabot — will soon take place, as Japanese electronics company Suidobashi Heavy Industries this week accepted a challenge from American startup MegaBots.

"Megabots: Organize the duel. We'll be there," read part of the video response from the Japanese team, posted to YouTube (and at end of this story).

The Japanese team set only one condition for the matchup: that the bout be "melee" style — meaning hand-to-hand, with no guns.

"My reaction? Come on guys, make it cooler. Just building something huge and sticking guns on it is... super American," said Kurata. "I want to punch them to scrap and knock them out to do it."

According to Engadget, Kuratas is the older of the two robots, having been assembled roughly three years ago. Standing at 12 feet tall and weighing in at 9,000 pounds, it is valued at over $1 million. The machine sports a BB gun, moves via a wheelbase, and has room to carry one human pilot.

Megabot was just completed, stands at 15-feet tall, and weighs a whopping 6 tons. It has a tank-like treadwheel base, and can fire oversized paintballs at up to 100 mph. The bot was built by a startup team in Boston with help from US software giant Autodesk.

"We're bringing video games and science fiction to life in the form of internally piloted giant fighting robots," MegaBots co-founder Gui Cavalcanti told Engadget in a recent interview.

The world's first high-profile matchup between giant fighting robots — Kuratas vs. Megabot — will soon take place, as Japanese electronics company Suidobashi Heavy Industries this week accepted a challenge from American startup MegaBots.